A collapsible carrying case of the type under discussion has been known for a long time (German Pat. No. 24 36 354). In this known collapsible carrying case, the side walls have corresponding guide members and guide recesses as well as locking elements, in order to provide a safe and secure connection between the side walls when the case is in the opened-up position. The second side walls which are articulated directly with the base plate have hinges which on the one hand are fastened to the base plate itself and on the other hand to the particular side wall concerned so that, when these side walls are folded inwardly and downwardly, they come to rest directly on the base plate of the carrying case. The first side walls which are indirectly articulated with the base plate by raised borders are at a somewhat greater distance from the base plate at their lower edge and when they are folded inwardly and downwardly they come to rest on top of the other second side walls which have already been folded down onto the base plate. In this case the guide recesses are in the form of eyelets and they are located on the first side walls. The guide members which are located on the second side walls engage in these guide recesses with the eyelet configuration when the carrying case is in the opened-up position. The eyelet-like guide recesses thus provide a certain amount of bearing contact by way of their borders for the second side walls in the opened-up position of the carrying case. In this way the second side walls are prevented from falling to the outside of the case. However, it has been shown that the guide recesses configured as eyelets are not sufficiently reliable in use as, amongst other things, they are liable to break off. Also, the stability of this type of carrying case in the opened-up position leaves a lot to be desired.
In addition to this there is another known collapsible carrying case which has two lids (German Pat. No. 27 34 964) which, on the one hand, provides good cover for the goods being transported in the carrying case and on the other hand improves the overall stability of the carrying case. However it is still possible to improve the stability of this carrying case even further. Apart from this, the protection against pilfering from the carrying case provided by the lids is not optimal because it is very easy to open them.